(The previous chapter has been completed, please go and take a look. Also, this book should be mostly finished by the end of this month or early April, so please hang in there a little longer~)
Cixi Palace
An Xin entered from outside: "Your Majesty the Empress Dowager, His Majesty has arrived." Yu Jingchen hadn't initially realized this. Because of what had happened today, she was still somewhat agitated.
Yu Jingchen quickly entered from outside. The Empress Dowager's expression was not good. He knew that she must have learned about what happened in Nansu.
"Why did Your Majesty suddenly come here?" The Empress Dowager's attitude remained as cold as ever.
"All of you may leave," Yu Jingchen ordered. Everyone nodded and withdrew, except for An Xin. She looked at the Empress Dowager, who hesitated for a moment before nodding. An Xin then withdrew upon receiving the Empress Dowager's instruction.
Everyone in my room left quickly, leaving only the Empress Dowager and Yu Jingchen in the room.
"What does Your Majesty mean by asking all these people to leave? Is there something you want to say?" the Empress Dowager continued to ask, unsure of Yu Jingchen's intentions.
"Does Her Majesty already know about General Nan's matter today?" Yu Jingchen went straight to the point, speaking very frankly.
"Is this all Your Majesty wants to ask? Aren't you already clear about this matter?" The Empress Dowager's attitude was far from pleasant.
"Does Your Majesty think it's me?" Yu Jingchen could guess, since he was the most likely suspect.
"I never said that, Your Majesty need not worry," the Empress Dowager replied. She wasn't without suspicion, but it hadn't been formally acknowledged. She knew what kind of person Yu Jingchen was, but she believed someone like him wouldn't resort to such methods.
"What is the relationship between the Empress Dowager and the Imperial Preceptor?" Yu Jingchen didn't ask any further questions. This question wasn't important. No matter what the Empress Dowager thought, this matter would never change.
"Why does Your Majesty ask this?" The Empress Dowager frowned. The question Yu Jingchen was asking had never appeared in her mind before.
"Has the Empress Dowager seen the Imperial Preceptor recently? Do you think he has changed?" Yu Jingchen didn't explain, but continued to ask.
The Empress Dowager thought for a moment. Gu Yin had come to visit a couple of days ago when he came out of seclusion. He seemed to have changed a lot, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. The biggest change should be in his appearance, right? Everything else... seemed the same, but something still felt off.
"Your Majesty the Empress Dowager must be aware of the rumors circulating about the heavy rains these past few days, right?" Yu Jingchen asked again. His way of addressing the Empress Dowager kept shifting, whether it was because of differing feelings or because of different events and positions.
"Your Majesty, you don't also think it was Yun'er's unborn child who brought this disaster, do you? Let me remind you today, Your Majesty, Yun'er's child is also Your Majesty's child. Putting aside the fact that such rumors are absurd, even if someone believes them, the child still has your blood flowing in it. Even if the person who brings disaster is you, it can't be that child. Do you understand?" The Empress Dowager was clearly very concerned about this matter.
"Of course I know, Mother, you don't need to worry. Yun'er and the child in Yun'er's womb will be fine." Yu Jingchen changed his form of address back to his original one.
The Empress Dowager watched them talk, but her expression showed some dissatisfaction. She couldn't fathom Yu Jingchen's thoughts. In fact, this wasn't the first time such talk about a jinx had appeared. There had been many similar rumors in the past, all created by the concubines in the harem who would stop at nothing to appear sincere.
Most importantly, because most people believe in ghosts and spirits, they actually believe such rumors. This has led to the loss of many innocent lives due to these malicious words.
The Empress Dowager herself was very resistant to such things, and she was also worried that Yu Jingchen would really believe such words and do something to Nan Zhiyun or the child in her womb.
"I don't believe that." Yu Jingchen seemed to sense the Empress Dowager's concerns, so he added this sentence. Although the Empress Dowager said she couldn't completely warn her, she wasn't as resistant as before.
"If Mother is truly concerned, then why not ask the Imperial Advisor?" Yu Jingchen finally revealed the purpose of his visit.
The Imperial Advisor? The Empress Dowager frowned when she heard these two words. What did this have to do with him?
"The Imperial Advisor spoke to me before. If Your Majesty is interested, you can ask him about it. After all, your relationship with him is different, and his attitude towards you goes without saying." Yu Jingchen was very frank and didn't beat around the bush.
The Empress Dowager did not deny what was said, but she couldn't understand what Gu Yin had to do with today's events.
"Alright, I've said my piece. Mother can think about it herself." Yu Jingchen had no intention of staying any longer. The little girl should wake up in half an hour. What would he do if he wasn't there?
The Empress Dowager watched Yu Jingchen leave, neither trying to stop him nor asking any further questions. His words had given her pause for thought.
However... misfortunes never come singly; some unexpected events always occur, catching people off guard and leaving them helpless.
As soon as Yu Jingchen returned to Zichen Palace, he sensed that something was wrong. He felt a little flustered and had a bad feeling.
"What's going on?" Yu Jingchen asked the palace maid beside him, hoping it wasn't what he thought.
Unfortunately, the thing he least wanted to happen still happened.
"Your Majesty, just now two palace maids, I don't know where they heard the rumors, that General Nan had an accident while dealing with the flood and fell into the river, and his fate is now unknown. The Empress happened to hear this, and then she stopped the two palace maids and asked them to explain themselves clearly, and the two palace maids then..." The palace maids had already said this much, so Yu Jingchen naturally knew what was going to happen next.
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